Cleansing my Aura

So we like make this smoothie with a special tea as a base. We like don't use milk or plain water, we make a special tea with this like plant we grow here. Fully bru, fully! So what does this plant look like I ask. She shows me this bag of weeds that look like a cross between dope and parsley... OK, I guess, whatever works. Then we like add in a banana to the mixture. Cool I think, I like bananas. However we like don't peel the banana, it is put in skin and all as the goodness is in the skin. Strange, I thought that is where all the pesticides and chemicals are, what do I know?? Then we like add in pineapple, limes, some herbs and this other plant we find on the island. This one looks like stinging nettles to me. She then fires up an industrial strength liquidiser, the lights on Utila dim while the machine does it's thing. The result, a green sludge that looks like something that came out the wrong end of a baby. So I grit my teeth and drink the mixture. Hey Presto, my aura is cleansed, I am shiny and new, people are being blinded, dogs are howling, the universe is a better place.

Welcome to Utila and the world of freediving.

Just another tough day on the island

Utila is the Central American version of Koh Tao in Thailand. In essence it is a party island with a diving problem. Scuba rules by day, booze rules by night. Backpackers throng the streets, most of them here to learn to scuba dive as it a cheap place to learn. Most of the dive operations here offer free rooms if you do a course or discounted rooms if you do fun dives. Me, I'm here specifically to learn how to freedive. For those of you who don't know, freediving is a sport where you hold your breath for as long as is comfortable and you go as deep as you have been trained for. No scuba tanks, no spare air.

Freediving is the antithesis of scuba. Scuba divers tend to be party animals, many of them smoke, most of them drink and fornicate at every opportunity, especially the young backpacking set. They stay out late, dive when tired, stoned, hungover or even with all three! Not recommended I might add. They start the day with coffee, probably a quick fag, shout and cheer on the boat and generally have a blast.

Our day on the freediving course starts with quiet reflection, yoga breathing exercises, breath holding exercises and a very chilled out state of mind. Obviously we have all cleansed our auras with the green concoction.

View towards the town

The first afternoon session is about the disciplines within the sport, the ethos and the equipment. Unlike scuba, there is hardly any kit and the only limits are those set by your body. It is what I would call a very "pure" sport, there is nothing artificial, no aids or devices to extend the time you spend underwater. Your lungs are your limiting factor.

Day 2 and we head out on the boat early in the morning, ready to make like the dudes in the cult movie; "The Big Blue". Our target depth on day 1 is 12m or 36ft. We all do a breath up on the surface which in essence is a breathing exercise designed to purge co2 from your system and get the o2 flowing along nicely. We pull ourselves down on a rope to get to a knot which is at 12m equalizing our ears constantly on the way down. We all do 6 dives with a combination of pulling down on the rope and also duck diving and swimming down, very cool! Getting down to 12 seems daunting at first but it can actually be done relatively easily. Apart from getting slightly sea-sick after lying on the surface of the sea for almost 3 hours, all goes well.

View from the boat deck

Day 3 and the target is 21m or around 63ft. We start the day with the yoga breathing exercises and breath holding exercises to get nicely calm and chilled. Forrest super chilled, now that's a strange site. Suitably in the zone we head out to the site in perfect conditions. Clear skies and almost no sea swell. After 2 simple warm up dives down to 12m and 17.5m I decide it's time to go for the knot on the rope down at 21m. Let me tell you, when looking down a rope that descends into a clear blue ocean, 21m is a long way! On scuba, no worries, on one breath a different story!!

Now, we have a huge nerve in our system called a Vagus Nerve. It pretty much connects all the main organs to a part of our brain that controls the fight or flight response. When the body is under stress, this nerve gets involved and stimulates the brain to trigger the fight or flight mode. So now guess what happens when you are inverted at 180 degrees(upside down), holding your breath, pulling down a line and a large amount of water pressure is compressing you internal organs and pushing them out of position?? Especially when you pass through 18m heading towards 21m. I call this nerve the ; "O heck, I'm about to die!!!!!" nerve. I was convinced I was gonna drown, no air, lungs crying out for air and a huge column of water above me.....

Funny thing about this nerve, if you stop what you are doing, even just for 10 seconds it starts chilling out. Well guess what, stopping at the knot on 21m, looking at the shipwreck and the fish all around, still holding my breath for now almost a minute or more the crazy nerve, it starts chilling out!

The freediving instructors who do this every day, they are fish, through and through. They are simply amazing in how they make it all look so easy, awesome to watch them.

I made 21m 3 times in total that morning, freediving world here I come. Next stop, 30m.....

I'm done with Utila and Honduras for now, off to Guatemala next.

Hasta Pronto

Andrew